Researcher buys URLs in old Trump tweets, redirects them to videos lampooning president

A old tweet sent by President Trump now contains an embedded musical video satirizing his alleged close ties with Russia, as a result of some hijinks on the part of a security researcher.

A security researcher has purchased the expired domains of web pages whose links were posted in old tweets from Donald Trump, and redirected them to satirical videos that mock the U.S. president, The Vergereported on Friday.

Belgian hacker Inti De Ceukelaire claimed responsibility, explaining that he wanted to demonstrate the security threat of expired domains, while at the same time avenging unflattering comments that Trump previously made about Brussels.

One tweet that was supposed to link to a conference's website instead displays an original, embedded YouTube video that pokes fun of Trump's public stance toward Russia and his alleged sexual exploits with Russian women. After redirecting the old conference URL to his self-made video, De Ceukelaire used Twitter's card validator tool to re-scan the URL and update the tweet with the embedded satirical content, according to The Verge.

This technique "could be a great tool to spread malware or fake news," De Ceukelaire told SC Media via Twitter. "Best thing? The altered tweet wouldn't even stand out from the more than 35k Trump Tweets containing 'alternative facts.' If Trump can cause worldwide consequences with less than 140 characters, other people can too."

De Ceukelaire bought four available domains, but the report also noted that additional actors have since bought even more expired URLs found in past Trump tweets.